System and Methods for Database Lock with Reference Counting

1. A computer system including one or more processors and computer memory, for managing the access of system resources in a database comprising the following computer executable components implemented using the one or more processors and computer memory: a lock manager wherein the lock manager: acquires a parent lock on a parent resource and one or more child locks on child resource(s) of the parent resource of a database, the locks preventing other applications from at least one of modifying data or using data which may not be accurate; stores a reference count of the one or more child locks within the parent lock such that as each child lock is released, the reference count decrements by a value of one, and releases the parent lock upon release of all child locks associated therewith, wherein the parent lock is released upon the reference count attainment of a zero value, such that data in the previously locked resources can be at least one of modified or used by another application.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a lock monitoring system that monitors the reference count of child locks associated with the parent lock.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a lock hierarchy designated by the lock manager.

4. The system of claim 3 , the lock hierarchy comprises at least one of a database lock, page lock, table lock and row lock.

5. The system of claim 3 further comprising a page scan optimization that maintains a last child lock until a next one is acquired.

6. The system of claim 3 , the one or more child locks is at least one of an exclusive, update and shared lock at a level of the hierarchy.

7. The system of claim 1 , the parent lock is an intent lock that protects resources at lower levels.

8. The system of claim 1 , the reference count is performed upon completion of at least one of a scan, query or operation.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a pointer that can guide a release operation from each child lock to a respective parent lock.

10. A computer implemented method for controlling locks to manage access to system resources in a database the method comprising one or more computer processors performing the following: defining a parent-child relation ship among a plurality of locks, on resources in a database, in a lock hierarchy; reference counting one or more child locks associated with a parent lock, such that a parent lock maintains a count reference of respective child locks associated therewith and as each child lock is released, the reference count decrements by a value of one, the locks preventing other applications from at least one of modifying data or using data which may not be accurate; and, releasing a parent lock upon a release of all the respective child locks associated therewith, wherein the parent lock is released upon the reference count attainment of a zero value, such that data in the previously locked resources can be at least one of modified or used by another application.

11. The method of claim 10 the defining act further comprising arranging a top-down lock granularity based on logical or physical granularities of objects stored in the data base.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising pointing to a parent lock upon releasing a respective child lock associated therewith.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising reference counting child locks directly associated with the parent lock.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising acquiring an intent lock at least in one of a table level, page level and database level.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising maintaining a reference count within a structure of the parent lock.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising scoping the reference counting of a lock to a transaction.

17. A computer implemented method for controlling locks to manage access to system resources in a database, the method comprising one or more computer processors performing the following: counting one or more child locks on resources in a database associated with a parent lock to obtain a reference count of the child locks associated therewith, the locks preventing other applications from at least one of modifying data or using data which may not be accurate; storing a reference count of the one or more child locks within the parent lock such that as each child lock is released, the reference count decrements by a value of one; releasing a child lock; decrementing the reference count by a value of one; and releasing the parent lock upon the reference count reaching a zero value, such that data in the previously locked resources can be at least one of modified or used by another application.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising monitoring the reference count.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising identifying the parent lock via a pointer.

20. A computer implemented database lock including one or more processors and computer memory, managing access to system resources comprising: a computer executable lock manager, implemented using the one or more processors and computer memory, wherein the computer executable lock manager: acquires at least a parent lock and one or more child locks on a database resource, the locks preventing other applications from at least one of modifying data or using data which may not be accurate; creates within the parent lock a reference count of the child lock, the reference count is decremented by one on the release of each child lock; stores a reference count of the one or more child locks within the parent lock such that as each child lock is released, the reference count decrements by a value of one and releases the parent lock upon the reference count attainment of a zero value, such that data in the previously locked resources can be at least one of modified or used by another application.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a further computer executable component that monitors the reference count.

22. The system of claim 20 further comprising a forwarding pointer device that identifies a parent lock associated with a released child lock.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising probabilistic classification models.

24. The system of claim 20 , the reference count is the count of direct child locks associated with the parent lock.